You’ve probably heard of Highway Inn, the Hawaiian food restaurant in Waipahu. But did you know the founder learned the restaurant business in Arkansas and California internment camps during World War II?
Seiichi Toguchi was born in Hawaii in 1914, but when his father broke his leg and couldn’t work, 4-year-old Seiichi and two older sisters were sent to Okinawa.
Grandparents and relatives raised them until Seiichi was 14 and returned to Hawaii. He went to work as a dishwasher at the old City Café, owned by the Hamamoto family, where he later learned how to cook.
When World War II broke out, Seiichi was interned because he was a kibei-nissei (one raised in Japan) and was thus suspect. He, his wife, Sachiko, and their three children were sent from California by train to Jerome, Ark. Later in 1944 the family was transferred to Tulelake, Calif.
Because of his restaurant background, Seiichi was assigned to work in the cafeteria. There he worked with other cooks from around the country, several of whom had been executive chefs at top restaurants.
"His internment was free schooling for him," says granddaughter Regina Toguchi. "It was a catalyst and gave him a foundation for running a restaurant when the war was over."
Seiichi Toguchi came up with the idea of opening a restaurant to support his growing family, now with seven children. His mother-in-law, Masa Asato, went from house to house and borrowed $3,000 for him to start Highway Inn in Waipahu in 1947. Seiichi named it for Farrington Highway, on which it was located. It was on Depot Road where the Bank of Hawaii and Mid-Town Radio are now.
Street widening forced them to move up the street in the 1960s, below the old sugar mill, about where the former Big Way Supermarket and Arakawa’s store was.
Bobby Toguchi recalls his father sitting on a cushion on a bucket to rest. "We used to have an old cash register that would make a ‘ka-ching’ sound when orders were rung up. Dad was so attentive and aware of what was happening around him that although he was responsible for making all the orders, he still listened to the ‘ka-chings’ and could tell if they missed one. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching … ‘One more,’ he’d say. … Ka-ching."
"He cooked the meals and could still keep an ear open to make sure the waitress rung them all up," Regina says.
In 1979, Seiichi wanted to retire and persuaded his son Bobby to leave Japan Airlines and take over. "It was either that or close," Bobby says.
Bobby moved it to its present site, on Leoku Street, in 1984. Bobby also expanded, opening the Highway Inn Seafood Market in 2000 next to the restaurant. Highway Inn Seafood Market serves a variety of fresh fish, assorted poke and fresh produce. He also added a Highway Inn Catering Service for all occasions — baby luaus, graduations, birthdays, weddings, baby showers, retirements, business functions and funerals.
Bobby had a stroke in 2003, and his daughter, Monica, felt compelled to take over the restaurant. "I felt an obligation to the family and customers," she says. "It was almost the same circumstances as with my father and his father. … This is an old-style Hawaiian hole-in-the-wall," Monica says.
"Many of our employees have worked here 15-20 years. People get a hello and a kiss on the cheek here. It’s a comfortable place where we know many customers by name."
Highway Inn was featured on the Food Network’s "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" in 2010. Last year they opened a general store, and this year they expect to open a Highway Inn in Kakaako.
"We’re like a gathering place," Regina Toguchi says. "Customers run into old friends here, and it isn’t uncommon for one table to pay the check of another. I’ve never seen that anywhere else. It seems to happen all the time."
"Some bring their mainland friends, who tell us Highway Inn is like going back in time to a Hawaii that existed 50 years ago."
Maybe you’ll run into old friends next time you go to Highway Inn; and if you’re lucky, maybe someone else will pay your bill.
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Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
